Japan, South Korea leaders ‘drum up’ rapport at Summit
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung played drums together on Tuesday after their summit talks in Nara, the capital of her home prefecture, in a surprise event showcasing their amicable personal relationship.
The leaders played two K-pop songs—“Dynamite,” a hit tune by world-famous boy band BTS, and “Golden” from the US Golden Globes-winning animated film “Kpop Demon Hunters.” Takaichi led the session by showing Lee how to play the drums, according to the South Korean government.
The drum session, which took place between the leaders’ joint press event and a dinner hosted by Takaichi, had not been publicized ahead of Lee’s two-day stay through Wednesday in the western Japan city.
Setting up ‘a surprise’
“When I met him at Apec, he told me playing the drums was a dream of his, so I set this up as a surprise,” Takaichi said in a post on X.
The two held their first talks as leaders on the fringes of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in South Korea in late October.
Takaichi is known to have played the drums in a heavy metal band when she was a university student. One of her favorite songs is British rock band Deep Purple’s “Burn.”
